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I love airlines. I even like airline food. And I sincerely appreciate airline customer service, whether it's delivered via contact centers, via digital channels like @deltaassist, via airlines’ increasingly brilliant use of natural language understanding from Nuance and similar vendors, or, of course, by the flight crew that makes the magic happen inside the airplane cabin.

Just this Friday night, on American Flight 521, I enjoyed watching flight attendants Faith and Dee giving passengers what I can only describe as extraordinary customer service. [Disclosure: I recently assisted the 80 airlines of WACRA, the Worldwide Airline Customer Relations Association, via a keynote speech on improving customer service and customer support.]

But customer service in the airline cabin, as in almost every other customer service arena, depends on a touchy little element that tends to get overlooked. That crucial customer service element is language.

For better, and for worse.

Language misused: I was on a flight in November when a Seattle-based flight attendant spoke somberly into the PA system as follows:

Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve got some troubling news to share with you.[The air grew very tense in the cabin until she completed her announcement, as follows.] The Seahawks are down by seven in the fourth quarter.

Or even worse: Flight attendants often refer to disabled passengers as "wheelchairs": “There are two wheelchairs on this plane," or “We’re clear—we don’t have any wheelchairs on this plane.” Passengers with disabilities are humans. They are not pieces of equipment. And they shouldn't be referred to that way.

Language used for the better: A week ago on Virgin America, the pilot came out to apologize to us for a slightly late takeoff, then assured us that:

Now, usually in airline cabin customer service, as in other customer service situations, the good and bad of language aren’t that good (“we’re going to fly it like we stole it”) or that bad (“I’ve got some troubling news.”)They’re more nuts and boltsy, the kind of positive and negative day to day language that can make or break a customer interaction, without the employee even knowing what’s just happened.And I have just such a nuts and bolts suggestion to offer here.

If airlines want to improve cabin customer service, they need to deploy two simple words, as follows:

You’re welcome."

When passengers say "thank you" to a flight attendant — for warmed nuts, for a meal, for a drink, for disposal of an air sickness bag (it happens) – they’re putting themselves out there. They’re exposing themselves.They’re exerting themselves.And when they receive no verbal response in return, it’s awkward, off-putting, even embarrassing.

Here’s the typical exchange heard on nearly every airline, nearly every flight. Listen to this in your mind’s ear, and image how it sounds/feels to the passenger in question.

Flight attendant hands passenger a tray of food, a drink, or a snack.

Passenger: "Thank you/thanks/I appreciate it." [To be fair here: This "thank you" from customers doesn't happen every time, and there's no excuse for when it doesn't. But I offer customer service training to customer service professionals, sadly not to the public at large.]

Flight attendant: Absolute silence.

Do you see what just happened here? The passenger extended herself to express gratitude.And what did she get back? Nothing. Which probably didn't feel very good.

The fix is simple. Learn to say “You’re welcome.”Or, you can use the Ritz-Carlton's time-tested two words: “My pleasure.” Or even go with “You betcha.” (But not, by the way, “No problem.”)

Micah Solomon is a customer service consultant and customer experience speaker offering customer service training, keynote speaking, and customer service consulting.